Footballer Rio Ferdinand

A dentist talks about the causes of and treatments for toothache – the condition which caused Rio Ferdinand so much trouble lately. It seems like the England football star could have used a more effective means of defending himself from the pain…

Earlier this month, Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand issued some anguished tweets about being bedevilled by severe tooth pain.

On August 30^th his concerned followers were told that the former England captain was “en route to the dentist… not looking forward to this at all. Tooth ache is not a joke, paracetamol didn’t ease the pain”.

Such was the former West Ham player’s discomfort that he felt compelled to “use pliers or a hammer to get it [the toothache] out myself”.

Putney dentist Ethicare treats many patients who are suffering from toothache; a condition which can be caused by:

• Receding gums
• Dental decay
• A cracked tooth
• An abscess caused by infection

But Ferdinand’s toothache was in fact caused by another factor… the emergence of two wisdom teeth.
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Photo by S J Sanders

How beneficial is CBT to people with a severe dental phobia and how long-lasting can the benefits be? A new study claims to have the answers…

New research suggests that severe dental phobia can be successfully reduced by just one session of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – a treatment which tries to identify and directly change thoughts that may be affecting behaviour.

The results of the study, entitled ‘A joint approach to treating dental phobia’, were published in the British Dental Journal on August 26^th 2011 and will provide thought-provoking reading material for nervous patients in dental waiting rooms.

Of course, many Britons are too nervous to even make it to the waiting room – Read the rest of this entry »